Solidarity with the Al Jazeera 3 and the victims of the Egyptian dictatorship.
On saturday 28th June, a group of about 50 people gathered outside the
US consulate in Auckland. They were protesting the recent jailing of three Al Jazeera journalists
who were reporting on the human rights violations being enacted by the El-Sisi dictatorship
in Egypt. The protesters were symbolically gagged with masking tape in order to
symbolise the silencing of the world media by the Egyptian dictatorship. The protest
was attended by members of the local Egyptian community, Socialist Aotearoa,
Global Peace and Justice Auckland, the Mana Movement and the Internet Party.
The
role of the United states government in the Egyptian dictatorship was outlined by
Global peace and justice Auckland activist, and Mana Movement electoral candidate
John Minto, who said “Egypt would not be doing this
without orders coming directly from the United States because they are providing the means
for Egypt to oppress its people”. Members of the local Egyptian community
spoke about how political prisoners in Egypt were being denied a fair trial by
the forces of the El-Sisi Dictatorship. Internet party candidate Chris Young
spoke to the importance of keeping the internet free and open which is
understandable considering the role of the internet in the 2011 revolution. Joe
Carolan of Socialist Aotearoa spoke about the Revolutionary Socialists being
jailed for organising protests. He also spoke to the pattern emerging where opponents
of the Egyptian dictatorship are being systematically repressed, saying “First
they came for the Muslims, now they’re coming for the journalists,
then the come for the socialists and then there is no democracy, there is just
the military in power.” He said taking inspiration from that famous quote from Pastor
Martin Niemöller.
By Comrade Eva.
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